Google Maps: From “OneBox” To Ten Local Links

Google announced recently that you may now see up to 10 Local results on Google’s organic results page. Typically a user used to see anywhere from 1 – 3 results.

Google states that the reason that they are showing more links is that during usability testing, it was revealed that many people did not realize there are additional local searches beyond the 3 listings. Despite the “more results…” prompt, it was still not obvious to many users that more results could be found. Google hopes that listing 10 links will be a clearer indicator that more local content is a click away.

According to Google – the ranking of those ten results is based on a range of factors, including the query, proximity, availability of ratings/reviews and their quality and several other variables.

With Google now displaying up to 10 local results, it becomes more and more apparent that adding your business to Google Local is a crucial step.